<p>In a sense, Dario did turn himself in by outing himself publicly. I think he has roused the ire of many by sort of bragging about his good fortune or taunting them with the fact that he made it to the top while evading the law. With 36-40% of UCB and UCLA students now being Pell grant eligible, another poor kid from CA making it into a top college doesn’t seem so amazing anymore. I think Americans are tiring of illegal immigrant success stories. It is our resources that got them there. That is how it is supposed to work and does, for millions of Americans. </p>
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No, This is the Parents Cafe. Not meant for naive high school kiddies, which you and some others posting on this thread are. </p>
<p>@Bay, I agree with the taunting nature that Dario displays. I find Dario to be an obnoxious rule-flaunter. His website to help other illegals is especially offensive to me. Oh, and he’s not studying engineering. He’s studying “visual and environmental studies.” Wonder what happened to the engineering? (I bet I know!)</p>
<p>The “unaccompanied minors” crossing the border is terrible - the children are actually accompanied by coyotes and most are being abused and raped on the way here. It is child-trafficking. As heart-breaking as it is, dandling leniency, amnesty, and benefits to them only encourages more child-trafficking.
Many of the other supposed unaccompanied male minors are actually older teens and in their twenties whose tattooes show them to be gang members. </p>
<p>@DrGoogle
A conflict such as the Mexican Drug War is never too “distant” for the United States to do something about it, especially if it’s happening right next to its borders.
Also, this might sound unrelated, but the University of Oxford recently established a scholarship for exceptional students who “for political or financial reasons, or because suitable educational facilities do not exist, cannot study for a degree in their own countries.” Guess what? Mexico is on the list.
<a href=“Reach Oxford Scholarship | University of Oxford”>http://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/fees-and-funding/oxford-support/reach-oxford-scholarship</a></p>
<p>tl;dr If the kid was smart and appealing enough for Harvard, let him go to Harvard. And, had Harvard not accepted him, he likely would have had generous scholarship offers from the other elite institutions.</p>
<p>@scholarme
Mexico, ironically, is to blame for all that illegal immigration from Central American countries.
Ever heard of the train “La Bestia”? If not, look it up. You’d be surprised at the things these kids (and other adults) have to go through to reach the United States.</p>
<p>You’re blaming Mexico for having freight trains? </p>
<p>@"Cardinal Fang"
No, for their immigration policies (though I can see where the misunderstanding comes from). If they were more efficient, these Central American people wouldn’t be boarding the trains AND arriving to the United States in the first place.</p>
<p>It breaks my heart to see so much misinformation. The media, the Obama administration and the bush administration before it have and had an agenda that doesn’t consider the well being of the immigrants at all. And so many people are so caught up in thinking that they are compassionate and, therefore, must be right, that they don’t dig deeper and think more critically and actual human beings suffer as a result. </p>
<p>80-90% of the unaccompanied minors are young men in their late teens. Unattached, testosterone-driven young men are trouble on feet and that is what we are allowing in. They aren’t fleeing drug violence, they are bringing it. We are seeing less immigration from Mexico because the birth rates are falling there. What we are seeing now (and I know because I work with this population) is large numbers of indigenous people from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, which are failed states. Unfortunately, they are not educable and not assimilable. It is not an accident that the media is portraying the sob stories of the much smaller percentage which is comprised of small children in danger. It’s a better visual. But it is still not ok and shouldn’t be encouraged. Everyone who is wringing his hands and attacking opponents as raaaaaacist is part of the problem. It will never be safe to cross the border and it is not the desirable outcome. The real racists are the governing classes in those countries who don’t view their indigenous populations as valuable and worthy of any support. It is grotesque that intelligent, decent Americans look the other way about such a monstrous human rights abuse. </p>
<p>Cardinal Fang, are you familiar with mexico’s immigration laws?</p>
<p>@zoosermom
Exactly.
As I said, the Mexican War on Drugs is not something to be taken lightly. More people have died due to this war than US soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq. Yet, we have comments here that treat it as an “internal conflict.”
The truth is, no border is strong enough to make this war distant. It’s happening right now at Mexican towns bordering the U.S., people.</p>
<p>Wow, this thread is all over the place. </p>
<p>Equating having international students get a visa to a child who has been in the US 14 years deciding that he has to leave because his parents screwed up?</p>
<p>Thinking that our borders are SO porous that a billion people could come here illegally?</p>
<p>Of course there shouldn’t be open borders. But it won’t matter if there are open borders if people do not employe illegal aliens. That’s why legislation should focus on penalties for companies and individual who hire illegal aliens. No jobs = no reason to be here. People who are truly unsafe in their towns, but most of the country is okay, should be repatriated to another area of their country. Yet we give asylum to many people who are really only at risk in their home town and immediate area.</p>
<p>Several folks on this thread think there is an illegal alien around every corner. No, there isn’t. I have spent a lot of time in immigrant communities, not just Hispanic but Eastern European as well. The fraction of people who are illegal is very small unless you have a handler (see Edison, NJ and how there is a handler getting in Indian immigrants illegally). Those handlers need to be punished severely, but often they pay off a lot of people to be able to do it.</p>
<p>When I was growing up, it was less than 5% illegal aliens in those communities, and now it is closer to less than 2%. One out of fifty immigrants is illegal, forty-nine are legal.</p>
<p>Tell your local politicians to round up day laborers. Force all landscapers, cleaning services, construction companies, and farms to be registered and file papers on every worker. Make contract work illegal unless there is a signed contract and proof of citizenship or legal residency.</p>
<p>Blaming the people, especially kids who came over when they were very little, is not going to help. Someone seemed surprised that schools do not ask immigration status of children, or citizenship status. Public schools do not. Period. The system is encouraging illegal aliens without addressing them.</p>
<p>Stopping their parents from working will force the parents to go home. Or they’ll have to steal, then get arrested and then be sent home. </p>
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<p>What is significant about Oxford University awarding a few scholarships to low income students from certain countries it deems worthy? Big deal. Harvard gives full ride scholarships to every low income student from anywhere. Many of our universities give scholarships to eligible international students they accept, and they don’t discriminate like Oxford does, based on where you were born.</p>
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<p>Oh stop being so naive. Do you really believe every illegal immigrant in the US is employed? And that all of the ones that do have jobs are honest about their status and have legitimate paperwork? Or are employed by Americans versus self-employed or working for other illegal immigrants?</p>
<p>Fred, I’m well aware of the drug problem since I live I Southern California you can’t escape the news. I visited Cancun years ago but after the state department put on alert that it’s not a safe country to travel, I have never gone back. And that was 20 years ago. What I meant about internal conflict is that we can’t control Mexico. We can help but if the correction there is too great then what can we do. I’ve read even the police can be bought by the drug cartels, nobody can be trust. If this drug cartel happens inside USA, I’m sure we can bring our armed forces to squash them but we can’t. Hence we can only aid them. Therefore it’s an internal conflict in that sense. I’ve read that Mexican people elected different president because the previous guy promised to squash the drug cartel but caused more bloodshed so they didn’t want him.</p>
<p>Post #250, that’s why my husband and I do our own landscaping. I don’t want to be directly or indirectly hiring illegal immigrants. Same with house cleaning. We clean our own house, do our own yard. Granted we don’t have a spotless house but I’m ok with it.
I don’t even hire European cleaning crew either. So it’s equal discrimination.</p>
<p>Post #250, you are correct the public school system encourages it and that’s what we are discussing in this thread.
When we enrolled our kids in school they literally gave us hell, wanted to make sure we have everything, ie not lying to get to the good school district. I’m not sure they do that with illegal immigrants.</p>
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<p>You really are ignorant about this subject. Public schools were mandated by the US Supreme Court to educate illegal immigrants. They don’t have a choice.</p>
<p>@Bay
The emphasis is not on Oxford, but rather the quoted statement:“for political or financial reasons, or because suitable educational facilities do not exist, cannot study for a degree in their own countries.” </p>
<p>@DrGoogle
That makes more sense. And yes, even the most informed voters elected Mexico’s current president.</p>
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<p>Well it is a stupid distinction. There are low income students in the US who, for financial reasons, cannot study for a degree in their own countries.</p>
<p>My post *correction should be corruption. Auto correct on iPhone.</p>